Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [4]
The searchers had gone straight up the side of the mountain, and the girl could see them now, struggling between the dense pine trees. So she went around the base instead, following a small stream that wound between the trees. The edges were iced over, but the middle still ran free where the flow was fast moving.
She was so enjoying the sensation of being warm, and making such good time walking along the bank, that she didn’t realize what she was seeing when she rounded a boulder and came upon the white reindeer. The boulder had concealed a small, dense thicket. And caught in that thicket was the legendary creature itself.
It was as white, or whiter, than the snow around it. As white, or whiter, than the parka she wore. As white, or whiter, than anything she had ever seen. Its great rack of antlers was dark and burnished like polished wood, and its rolling eyes were blacker than soot.
“Oh, you poor thing!” The lass went forward to see if she could help. “You’re trapped.”
From the tracks in the snow, the reindeer had been coming down the side of the mountain and had slid down a small drop-off into the brambles. The animal snorted and tried to swipe at her with its entangled antlers as she approached, but the lass just clucked her tongue.
“I can help you get free, just hold still now,” she said in a soothing voice.
All thought of holding the creature there until it granted her wish was gone. The lass had a tender heart and hated to see an animal suffer. The brambles had scratched the reindeer terribly, and dark red drops were staining the fine white pelt. Its breath made clouds in the air, and its hooves struck sparks on the stones beneath the churned snow.
“Sh, sh, sh,” the girl soothed. “I’ll get you free.”
Moving slowly, she sidled up to the animal and took hold of a long bramble cane that had wound itself several times around the left branch of the reindeer’s antlers. The canes were still green at their heart, which was bad for the reindeer because it meant that they couldn’t be easily snapped off.
As soon as she let go of the first cane, it sprang back, pricking the back of her hand even through her thick woolen mitten. It struck the reindeer on the side of the head, making the animal bellow and twist.
“Stop that,” the lass ordered. “You’re making things worse!”
Realizing that there was no other way, she opened her parka to get the little belt-knife she wore. The rush of cold air that came in froze her ribs until she thought that taking a deep breath would crack them.
Seeing the knife out of the corner of one rolling eye, the white reindeer stamped and bellowed, but it couldn’t move very far. It was now so securely wrapped with brambles that it would never get itself free.
“Hush now,” the lass said, “this is for the brambles, not for you.”
Sawing through the canes was tedious and snagged her mittens badly. She took them off, but her fingers quickly became too stiff to be much good, and she had to put the mittens back on and blow down into them until her fingertips regained feeling. All the while she softly sang the lullaby that Jorunn had sung to her when she was little. The singing soothed the reindeer, and it calmed under her hands, which made it much easier to untangle the creature’s antlers. She tried to cut as few canes as possible, seeing each severed branch as a handful fewer cloudberries to find in the months to come. But it was more important to get the poor beast free.
When the last of the canes was loose and the reindeer could raise its head and rattle its great antlers at the sky, the lass gave a whoop of delight. The white reindeer stepped delicately from the circle of mangled brambles and turned to face her.
“Thank you,” it said.
The young girl’s jaw dropped. She had